SaDaSl
Twilight Sparkle tracks down her former rival, intending to right the wrongs of the past. However, sometimes what's broken can't be fixed, making her realise there's still a lot she has to learn about friendship. ·DEI Caboose

Al
A pony's parents play a role in what they will become or believe, depending how they're raised, feed, and respected. However, there are some cases where a foal will be whatever they are born and nothing more. But that doesn't have to ·PurplePolymath

CoAl
Trixie's mother has come to Manehattan, and she's here to drag her prodigal daughter back to Canterlot and take up her house's title, whether she wants to or not! Set in the Manehattanverse. ·Skyeheart

This was a hilarious read from start to finish. I absolutely loved it. Both characters remained pretty well within their proper characterization, and they kept up their bickering and sniping without really giving any ground. I could easily see them keep doing stuff like this simply for fun (let's face it, Twilight relishes in having somepony to snark at without having to hold back), and Trixie would definitely want to become an alicorn solely to keep their rivalry on an even keel.

>>39120073912007 That was what I was going for with this: that Twilight and Trixie have this weird rivalry/friendship thing going on that only they really get. I completely forgot about that trope, though. If I get a mention on the relevant TVTropes page, I will explode with joy.

It's funny, really, because I've thought the same thing; in one of my current projects, Twilight and her friends end up depowered while Trixie (independently) has trained herself in the hopes of matching her. Trixie then gets upset that her rival has fallen behind and demands that Twilight regains her strength so they can have a proper rivalry. Twilight gets all mopey because she thought they were friends... until Pinkie points out that for crazy ponies like Trixie, rivalry is friendship.

First I have to say: This story is a perfect example of why people need to get the idea that Trixie is an illusionist out of their heads, because it leads to a lot of tired clichés. I could swear I've read the conversation where Trixie is extolling the virtues of some shady historical illusionist so many times it's become an archetype by now.